Every muscle in your body is useful, otherwise it wouldn't be there in a first place. The most minuscule movements require the contraction of many muscles and nerves. Simply because you don't see any "use" in biceps, does not mean that you can rule them out of your work out routine. Besides, muscle imbalances can cause injuries. Treat each muscle with equal attention.

Seriously tho', the biceps are used for bending the arm at the elbow, but are not used directly that often for generating power -- they are used indirectly, bending the arm, so that other triceps and other muscles can apply power.

If you use a lot of supination (opposite of pronation) of your BH strokes, the biceps might be a factor in power production. (This is probably more common in badminton than it is in tennis). It should be noted that the biceps are involved in supination primarily when the arm is bent -- when the arm is straight, the role of the biceps is considerably less. You probably use some biceps power when supinating on a BH overhead (smash).

Even if you do not believe that you need much power from the biceps for your strokes, it is still a good idea to work on them if you plan to develop your triceps. The biceps & triceps are complementary muscle groups -- if you work on one group, you should also work the other to prevent muscle imbalance. On the other hand, you probably don't need to work on the biceps quite as much as you work on the triceps.

But the whole idea of just working an isolated muscle (or even worrying about doing exercises to balance out specific muscles) is really out-dated when it comes to strength training for sports. Recommend you look at "Functional Training for Sports" by Mike Boyle.

Well, is he doing well because of those big biceps or in spite of them?

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Looks to me like the kind of shots he normally hits has led to his superior biceps development (in his left arm). He does a really fast whipping motion, using his biceps quite a bit (or so it seems to me).

Nadal has a very unconventional forehand that uses his bicep more than the conventional forehand. So yes, his left bicep was developed from playing tennis. Not exactly the fastest way to build your 'ceps, but if you're playing tennis 6 hours a day using that stroke, you'll see some results over the years.

Biceps are useful for tennis, and they look good, so it's a win-win. They shouldn't be the focal point of your routine, nor should they be completely neglected.

But the whole idea of just working an isolated muscle (or even worrying about doing exercises to balance out specific muscles) is really out-dated when it comes to strength training for sports. Recommend you look at "Functional Training for Sports" by Mike Boyle...

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Functional training or multi-joint (& multi-directional) movement training does appear to have considerable merit. Isolated muscle development vs functional training is much akin to the difference between bodybuilding and true (functional) strength development. As per your recommendation, I "google browsed" thru Mike Boyle's book -- he makes excellent points about training for the specific demands of a given sport and does a very decent job of covering many facets of functional training.

However, I remain unconvinced that muscle imbalance is an issue that can ignored. There appears to be on-going debate in the exercise community about this particular aspect. Some advocate a training program that focuses on both movement and muscles in order to correct muscle imbalances.

In browsing thru Boyle's book, I noticed that he does recommend some "isolated muscle" training. It is also interesting to note that so-called isolated muscle group training, especially with free weights, is not really isolated. For instance, in performing a biceps curl, the forearm & hand muscles hold the load, the triceps muscles passively stretch, the shoulders inhibit unwanted motion and the core stabilizes the entire body.

Nonetheless, I applaud you for bringing up the subject of functional training so that we can all be further enlightened on proper training for tennis.

i think biceps should develop while people do other, compound exercises not intended solely for biceps. in sports, lifts that emphasize use of the kinetic chain from feet through the core are probably the best ones you can do.

For the typical WW FH, secondary muscles associated with the biceps region are involved with the transverse or horizontal movement (both transverse adduction and flexion) of the swing. More or less, these muscles are important in creating the line of extension (or pull line) toward and through the ball.

The problem is that those muscles are usually not the primary movers of elbow flexion, therefore bicep curls and the such do not really train them significantly. But, then again, these are also "technique-oriented" muscles, and most people when learning the WW FH are looking to improve internal rotation (i.e. take bigger cuts) in their swing, rather than improving this aspect.

if your doing to make ur arms bigger, i know for a fact that the triceps are bigger and its a misconception that biceps make ur arm look bigger, in general, i mean if u were flexing it could be different but thats what im told, triceps should be more of a focus since it is clearly used more then biceps

but like everyone else said, dont become unbalanced, all muscles have to be worked evenly

I went back to looking at a functional training type guy--Stuart McGill--and he also advocates something like the hybrid approach of working specific important muscles and then integating them with multi-joint functional exercises.

Functional training or multi-joint (& multi-directional) movement training does appear to have considerable merit. Isolated muscle development vs functional training is much akin to the difference between bodybuilding and true (functional) strength development. As per your recommendation, I "google browsed" thru Mike Boyle's book -- he makes excellent points about training for the specific demands of a given sport and does a very decent job of covering many facets of functional training.

However, I remain unconvinced that muscle imbalance is an issue that can ignored. There appears to be on-going debate in the exercise community about this particular aspect. Some advocate a training program that focuses on both movement and muscles in order to correct muscle imbalances.

In browsing thru Boyle's book, I noticed that he does recommend some "isolated muscle" training. It is also interesting to note that so-called isolated muscle group training, especially with free weights, is not really isolated. For instance, in performing a biceps curl, the forearm & hand muscles hold the load, the triceps muscles passively stretch, the shoulders inhibit unwanted motion and the core stabilizes the entire body.

Nonetheless, I applaud you for bringing up the subject of functional training so that we can all be further enlightened on proper training for tennis.